August 6, 2020
By: Staff Report
TAMPA, Fla. – Hillsborough County School Board met today and voted on virtual school for at least 4-weeks. Schools will resume on August 24, but all students will start with virtual online classes. If the county sees s drop in COVID-19 cases, on-campus classes could resume 4-weeks after that.
The School Board will meet again on September 8th to review the status of the COVID-19 cases and discuss the next steps on brick and mortar reopening.
Attorneys for the Floria Education Association filed a motion Tuesday seeking a temporary injunction to keep the state from forcing brick and mortar schools to open in August.
The motion says, as of August 3, 2020, more than 38,000 Floridians under the age of 18 tested positive for the virus.
From July 16-24, there was a 23% increase in child COVID-19 hospitalizations. A scheduling conference on the injunction and other issues, including a state motion to dismiss is set for a hearing on Wednesday at 1 P.M. in Miami Dade County.
“Contrary to the suggestions by Defendant DeSantis, school-aged children are not immune from the illness – including serious and life-threatening illnesses arising from COVID-19 infection. And school-age children, whether symptomatic or not, are capable of transmitting the virus and thus furthering pandemic growth at school and at home in their families,” the FEA states in their emergency motion filed.
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